Knighthoods and sell-offs

Lord (Peter) Hennessy wonders if someone in No. 10 has been reading up on the Night of the Long Knives, when Macmillan sacked one third of his Cabinet  (back then that meant seven people axed: the equivalent in the new era of enlarged Cabinets would’ve been David Cameron sacking nine ministers on Monday/Tuesday instead of the three he settled for). Mr Cameron was more focused on removing some ministers from the middle and lower ranks and that’s where he started dispensing compensatory honours.

Back in 1962, the Prime Minister’s then principal private secretary wrote speaker notes on a crib sheet for Harold Macmillan as he called his ministers in for the chop. After some recommended warm words, the civil servant included what Prof Hennessy says can only be seen as a “tariff”.

For Harold Watkinson, who was Defence Secretary, the note said:  “Offer Mr Watkinson a CH now and a Viscountcy whenever he is ready.” And so it came to pass. Honours were dispensed to departing ministers.

The tariff on Tuesday night appears to be a knighthood for a Minister of State and a Privy Councillorship for a junior minister. There must’ve been a Clegg/Cameron level discussion about this. Did either of them blush or giggle? One backbencher said it was “hush money” to buy silence on the backbenches.

Another bit of reshuffle news trickling out tonight.

The Tory bouncers now on the door of Vince Cable’s Business Department have had their ministerial responsibilities laid out. Much was made of how the Thatcherite Michael Fallon was moving in on Vince’s empire. In the new rejigging of responsibilities, Michael Fallon takes over political responsibility for the Stakeholder Executive which could mean a big push to sell off any silver that could help the Treasury’s books.

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